REST IN HIS REST Pt.4 *THE FORCE OF GRACE*

'And Zacchaeus stood, and said unto the Lord: Behold, Lord, the half of my goods I give to the poor; and if I have taken any thing from any man by false accusation, I restore him fourfold.' - Luke 19 vs 8

Hello Beloved, this is a very interesting topic I am sharing on today. I will be talking on THE FORCE OF GRACE.In this teaching, we will see the empowering force GRACE puts on us which causes us to go on doing good works that pleases the Father. Please and please, Let every word in this teaching sink down into your spirit, and it will change you for your life time. Be Refreshed.

We are talking on the force of Grace, in other words, we are discussing on the effect of the Grace (that brings justification) of God upon a man's life. And in this teaching we will also see the destructive effect of having your Personal Righteousness by works. God Bless You. Let us see a cut out of what transpired between Zaccheaus and the Lord;

1 And Jesus entered and passed through Jericho.2 And, behold, there was a man named Zacchaeus, which was the chief among the publicans, and he was rich.3 And he sought to see Jesus who he was; and could not for the press, because he was little of stature.4 And he ran before, and climbed up into a sycomore tree to see him: for he was to pass that way.5 And when Jesus came to the place, he looked up, and saw him, and said unto him, Zacchaeus, make haste, and come down; for to day I must abide at thy house.6 And he made haste, and came down, and received him joyfully.7 And when they saw it, they all murmured, saying, That he was gone to be guest with a man that is a sinner.8 And Zacchaeus stood, and said unto the Lord: Behold, Lord, the half of my goods I give to the poor; and if I have taken any thing from any man by false accusation, I restore him fourfold.9 And Jesus said unto him, This day is salvation come to this house, forsomuch as he also is a son of Abraham.10 For the Son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost. - Luke 19 vs 1 - 9 {KING JAMES VERSION}

Interesting story right? Now let's go into detail. In verse 1, Zaccheaus identity was declared, he was the chief among the publicans (sinners). Verse 7 confirms it to us that he was a sinner. So Zaccheaus was a chief sinner. Waow. He must have got special expertise in sinning. Hahahahaha. But in verse 5, Jesus beheld him, as sinful as he was, as dirty as he was, Jesus didn't condemn him, Jesus justified him freely by Grace, Jesus received him unto Himself, and verse 6 shows us that that guilty man Zaccheaus was relieved of all his guilts. Pastor Jenning how do you know that? Can't you see what it said, it said, 6 And he made haste, and came down, and received him joyfully. He received Jesus joyfully. You see?He was excited, he was lifted in his spirit, he came into his rest, he felt the peace of God in his heart. Oooo, this is the experience of any one who Receives Jesus into his life, no matter how condemned he was, no matter how much guilt that was resident in his life, the Peace of the Lord just surges into his soul just as the ocean overflows, and he is at Rest forever. AMEN. Oooo how I love Jesus. - Selah

Now we see that Zaccheaus was justified freely by the Lord. Now, let's see the force that Grace exerted on him, and the effect it produced in his life. Let's see verse 8 again;

And Zacchaeus stood, and said unto the Lord: Behold, Lord, the half of my goods I give to the poor; and if I have taken any thing from any man by false accusation, I restore him fourfold.

Did you hear that? These were the exact things the Law required that every man must live by, the question is, why didn't Zaccheaus live by them before he met Jesus? Why did he suddenly love to do what is right immediately after he has met the Lord? Uhmmm. You see? This goes a long way to show to us that GRACE exerts a force on us, which becomes our empowerment to please God. Zaccheaus didn't give half of his goods to the poor prior to this time, he duped people of their possessions, but right here after been justified, here comes him doing those things which are pleasant in the sight of the Lord of which he didn't practice when he hadn't encountered Jesus. - Selah

This goes to prove the word of God in 1 John 4 vs 19;

'We love him, because he first loved us.' - {KJV}

You see? Zaccheaus felt the Love of the LORD in that He accepted him who was a chief sinner, irrespective of what the people said about it, He didn't care, but went on and justified him. Oooo what love. This love that Zaccheaus received is what constrained him to please God. You see? Grace (when well understood), doesn't make one go on in sin, no; but compels them to show forth good works because they love God. You see? It's certain and undeniable, if you love God, it will show in the outcome of your life. - Selah

Now let's now see the destructive effects of Self-Righteousness;

16 And, behold, one came and said unto him, Good Master, what good thing shall I do, that I may have eternal life?17 And he said unto him, Why callest thou me good? there is none good but one, that is, God: but if thou wilt enter into life, keep the commandments.18 He saith unto him, Which? Jesus said, Thou shalt do no murder, Thou shalt not commit adultery, Thou shalt not steal, Thou shalt not bear false witness,19 Honour thy father and thy mother: and, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.20 The young man saith unto him, All these things have I kept from my youth up: what lack I yet?21 Jesus said unto him, If thou wilt be perfect, go and sell that thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven: and come and follow me.22 But when the young man heard that saying, he went away sorrowful: for he had great possessions. - Matthew 19 vs 16 - 22 {KING JAMES VERSION}

Uhmmm. What a story. Did you see what I saw? From the verse 20, we see that this young man lived by the law, he had his own Righteousness according to the obedience of the Law. Now notice, the young man told Jesus he had kept the Laws from his youth, and I love what the scripture says reading it from the book of Mark reading from Chapter 10 vs 21, 'Then Jesus beholding him loved him...'. That tells us that this young man said the truth, he indeed had well kept the Laws from his youth, yet Jesus did tell Him that he was therefore qualified for Heaven, no. But Jesus said said to him in verse 21, if thou will be perfect, meaning, if you will be qualified for Heaven, go and sell all that you have and give them all to the poor. Waow. Now, there have been a lot of questions as to why Jesus told him to do that, and here is the reason. Verse 22 tells us that he had great possessions, Jesus didn't tell him to sell all his goods because he was angry he was so rich, no; God is not an enemy of Riches for His children, but the Lord asked Him to do that as a test of his Faith on Him. - Selah

When you read through out scriptures beginning from the father of Faith himself, Papa Abraham, the Bible says his faith was counted unto him as Righteousness. Now before Jesus died and resurrected from the dead, God proved men's faith in Him by giving them specific instructions to see if they truly believed in His majesty; and that;s exactly what He was doing here again. Before and after the death of Jesus, Jesus needed your faith to declare you saved, and so He still does today. But before His death, before He could recognize someone's faith in Him as faith, that faith must be proven first by their obedience to His instruction. God asked Abraham for his only son Isaac. Let's reason this out, prior to the time God asked Abraham for his only son Isaac, Abraham was already working with God, he already had faith in God, but his faith had not been accepted by God in that it was not yet proven by obedience. But the moment Abraham obeyed in attempting to kill his only son as God has require of him, see what God said;

'And he said, Lay not thine hand upon the lad, neither do thou any thing unto him: for now I know that thou fearest God, seeing thou hast not withheld thy son, thine only son from me.' - Genesis 22 vs 12 {KJV}

You see? See what God said unto Abraham again, '...for now I know that thou fearest God...'. You see? Didn't Abraham fear (have faith in God) God prior to this time? Sure he did, but it wasn't yet proven by God, hence it wasn't registered into his account. - Selah. This was the same case with this young rich man. He ran after Jesus and asked what he must do to enter into Heaven, that tells you that he believed in Jesus as the Savior, as the Christ, but his believe (faith) wasn't yet registered into his account just like the case of Papa Abraham was.

Now let's see some characteristics of Self Righteousness;

1- WORKING TO GAIN GOD'S ACCEPTANCE

16 And, behold, one came and said unto him, Good Master, what good thing shall I do, that I may have eternal life?

This is an awkward case to me. You know why? This young man met the Saviour Himself who justifies any one apart from his own works, yet he still desired works for His salvation. Can you imagine? All he needed do was to say, 'Master, save me', and that would be all. Hence, since he needed what to do to be saved, the Lord told him what to do. Why then was he offended? Hahahahahahahahahahahaha. This guy must be funny. He asked for something to do to be saved, and he was told, then he picked up an offense and went away sorrowful. That leads us to the second characteristic of Self Righteousness;

2- DISOBEDIENCE TO THE FAITH

22 But when the young man heard that saying, he went away sorrowful...

You see? Self Righteous folks never become obedient to the faith except at special divinely appointed encounters with the Word. This was the first time this young guy was to take a step of faith in his entire life, but unfortunately, he lived all his life on works and not on faith, hence, it was impossible for him to obey this simple and little instruction. All the Lord wanted to see was to know if he had Faith in God that he would replenish him back in more folds of all that he has given, that was all. If he had done what he was asked to do, he would have come back with so much more than what he sold out and gave. You may want to ask, Pastor Jenning how do you know that? Yea I know that with the life of Abraham, after his obedience to God in going ahead to sacrifice the life of his only son to God, he didn't only become a father of Isaac, but he became the father of faith, he became the father of many nations, in other words, he became the father of all them who shall be born of faith; which includes you and I. Can you now see? Every past event in the word of God have key relevance to the future events. Therefore, from the case of Abraham, we can tell what the case of any other man who comes under same circumstance will be. God's ways change not. - Selah

16 And said, By myself have I sworn, saith the Lord, for because thou hast done this thing, and hast not withheld thy son, thine only son:17 That in blessing I will bless thee, and in multiplying I will multiply thy seed as the stars of the heaven, and as the sand which is upon the sea shore; and thy seed shall possess the gate of his enemies;18 And in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed; because thou hast obeyed my voice. - Genesis 22 vs 16 - 18 {KING JAMES VERSION}

You see, God began to bless and multiply Abraham for his act of faith. Now notice the first blessing God brought on him, Verse 17; '...in multiplying I will multiply thy seed as the stars of the heaven, and as the sand which is upon the sea shore; and thy seed shall possess the gate of his enemies...'. You see that? God first addressed his seed. Why? Because he went on in obedience to sacrifice his only born seed as the Lord asked it of him. This shows us the ways of God. If that young man had sold all he had and given it to the poor, by so doing, he would have brought himself under the lineage of Abraham just as the Lord declared Zaccheaus as a son of Abraham, and by that, the blessing of multiplication would have began work in him, causing him to get back all that he had given in faith and even more. But he missed it and thus missed his Salvation. - Selah

3- SUPERIORITY AGAINST OTHERS

And he spake this parable unto certain which trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and despised others...' - Luke 18 vs 9 {KJV}

Self Righteousness builds superiority in the heart of her container, these are such fellows that see other people including Christians as sinners and trash before God. Look at it in the verse 11 and 12;

11 The Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself, God, I thank thee, that I am not as other men are, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as this publican.
12 I fast twice in the week, I give tithes of all that I possess.

You see that? They are conceited with their own works, hence they despise others who aren't living up to their standards. But any man who understands that his Righteousness did not come from his own good works, but acknowledges it as a gift from the Lord, his legal right to condemn or despise any other fellow is taking from him, hence, he cannot despise, neither condemn nor look down on any one no matter how imperfect they are because he himself knows that his Righteousness is a gift from God (Romans 5 vs 17). - Selah

You can go over this teaching again and again and again for a perfect understanding of it. Read preceding parts to get the full view of it. They are necessary in other for your spirit to grasp the bigger picture of what the Lord is actually saying in these teaching series.

Re: REST IN HIS REST Pt.4 *THE FORCE OF GRACE*

Peace be unto you Jenning,

This is a good topic actually, your like the first one I ever seen post on this because this was one of my favorites to discover really cool things in it, especially the things of John (in respects to repentance) and the outworkings between the two men as can be seen between the two pictures.

The two accounts also seem to show the differences between godly sorrow (as was worked inZaccheaus life) and worldly sorrow (as shown in the Rich young rulers life)

For example, it says, The publicans, justified God, being baptized with the baptism of John.

So Zacchaeus (a chief publican) would be shown as one who believed John

Even as Jesus said,

Mat 21:32 For John came unto you in the way of righteousness, and ye believed him not: but the publicans and the harlots believed him: and ye, when ye had seen it, repented not afterward, that ye might believe him.

And Zacchaeus is found Johns teachings (in what he did) even as the people asked John here

Luke 3:10 And the people asked him saying,

What shall we do then?

Luke 3:11 He answereth and saith unto them,

He that hath two coats, let him impart to him that hath none; and he that hath meat, let him do likewise.

Luke 3:12 Then came also publicans to be baptized, and said unto him, Master, what shall we do?

Luke 3:13 And he said unto them, Exact no more than that which is appointed you.

Luke 3:14 And the soldiers likewise demanded of him, saying, And what shall we do?

And he said unto them,

Do violence to no man, neither accuseanyfalsely; and be content with your wages.

All the people were in expectation, and Zacchaeus was no exception as he was of those that hath believed John

He wanted to see Jesus he couldnt being a man of small stature, he climbed into a tree, Jesus noticed him told him to come on down as he would stay with him (in breif)

Again we know the publicans believed John (Jesus said) and John taught them

Luke 19:2 And, behold, there wasa man named Zacchaeus, which was the chief among the publicans, and he was rich.

Recall, two coats (in John) 2-1 coat (to him that hath none)?

Zacchaeus believing John is doing works meet for repentance

Acts 19:8 And Zacchaeus stood, and said unto the Lord; Behold, Lord, the half of my goods I give to the poor;

This is where I see Johns two coats impart to him that hath none = Zacchaeus's half my goods to the Lord in this display.

John also said,

Do violence to no man, neither accuseanyfalsely; and be content with your wages. Luke 3:14

And Zacchaeus continues, saying,

and if I have taken any thing from any man by false accusation, I restorehimfourfold.

Johns teaching being displayed in this publicans life (who believed John) that makes more sense as to what he did do.

These were as works meet for repentance,

And so Jesus (who comes after John) even in this very picture says to him right after

Luke 19:9 And Jesus said unto him,

This day is salvation come to this house, forsomuch as he also is a son of Abraham.

Just fits with godly sorrow

2 Cr 7:10 For godly sorrow worketh repentance to salvation not to be repented of

And again after this thing Jesus said ,

This day is salvation come to this house (and he was reccognized as a son of Abraham)

In contrast to the worldly sorrow found in the rich young ruler (shown as in the pharisees) because unlike the publicans who believed and were baptized by John

It says,

Luke 7:30 But the Pharisees and lawyers rejected the counsel of God against themselves, being not baptized of him.

We know the story, all these have I kept, what lack I?

Mat 19:21 Jesus said unto him, If thou wilt be perfect, go and sell that thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven: and come and follow me.

Mat 19:22 But when the young man heard that saying, he went away sorrowful: for he had great possessions.

Even as sorrow of the world worketh death

Just as godly sorrow (as was worked in the life of Zacchaeus) which did not need to be repented of this one does. The second half of the verse posted behind Zacchaeus would apply here

2Cr 7:10 For godly sorrow worketh repentance to salvation not to be repented of: (in Zacchaeus)

but (as seen in the rich young rule) the sorrow of the world worketh death.

And he went away sorrowful: for he had great possessions.

1 John 2:15 Love not the world, neither the thingsthat are in the world.

Re: REST IN HIS REST Pt.4 *THE FORCE OF GRACE*

Originally Posted by ISeeYou

Peace be unto you Jenning,

This is a good topic actually, your like the first one I ever seen post on this because this was one of my favorites to discover really cool things in it, especially the things of John (in respects to repentance) and the outworkings between the two men as can be seen between the two pictures.

The two accounts also seem to show the differences between godly sorrow (as was worked inZaccheaus life) and worldly sorrow (as shown in the Rich young rulers life)

For example, it says, The publicans, justified God, being baptized with the baptism of John.

So Zacchaeus (a chief publican) would be shown as one who believed John

Even as Jesus said,

Mat 21:32 For John came unto you in the way of righteousness, and ye believed him not: but the publicans and the harlots believed him: and ye, when ye had seen it, repented not afterward, that ye might believe him.

And Zacchaeus is found Johns teachings (in what he did) even as the people asked John here

Luke 3:10 And the people asked him saying,

What shall we do then?

Luke 3:11 He answereth and saith unto them,

He that hath two coats, let him impart to him that hath none; and he that hath meat, let him do likewise.

Luke 3:12 Then came also publicans to be baptized, and said unto him, Master, what shall we do?

Luke 3:13 And he said unto them, Exact no more than that which is appointed you.

Luke 3:14 And the soldiers likewise demanded of him, saying, And what shall we do?

And he said unto them,

Do violence to no man, neither accuseanyfalsely; and be content with your wages.

All the people were in expectation, and Zacchaeus was no exception as he was of those that hath believed John

He wanted to see Jesus he couldnt being a man of small stature, he climbed into a tree, Jesus noticed him told him to come on down as he would stay with him (in breif)

Again we know the publicans believed John (Jesus said) and John taught them

Luke 19:2 And, behold, there wasa man named Zacchaeus, which was the chief among the publicans, and he was rich.

Recall, two coats (in John) 2-1 coat (to him that hath none)?

Zacchaeus believing John is doing works meet for repentance

Acts 19:8 And Zacchaeus stood, and said unto the Lord; Behold, Lord, the half of my goods I give to the poor;

This is where I see Johns two coats impart to him that hath none = Zacchaeus's half my goods to the Lord in this display.

John also said,

Do violence to no man, neither accuseanyfalsely; and be content with your wages. Luke 3:14

And Zacchaeus continues, saying,

and if I have taken any thing from any man by false accusation, I restorehimfourfold.

Johns teaching being displayed in this publicans life (who believed John) that makes more sense as to what he did do.

These were as works meet for repentance,

And so Jesus (who comes after John) even in this very picture says to him right after

Luke 19:9 And Jesus said unto him,

This day is salvation come to this house, forsomuch as he also is a son of Abraham.

Just fits with godly sorrow

2 Cr 7:10 For godly sorrow worketh repentance to salvation not to be repented of

And again after this thing Jesus said ,

This day is salvation come to this house (and he was reccognized as a son of Abraham)

In contrast to the worldly sorrow found in the rich young ruler (shown as in the pharisees) because unlike the publicans who believed and were baptized by John

It says,

Luke 7:30 But the Pharisees and lawyers rejected the counsel of God against themselves, being not baptized of him.

We know the story, all these have I kept, what lack I?

Mat 19:21 Jesus said unto him, If thou wilt be perfect, go and sell that thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven: and come and follow me.

Mat 19:22 But when the young man heard that saying, he went away sorrowful: for he had great possessions.

Even as sorrow of the world worketh death

Just as godly sorrow (as was worked in the life of Zacchaeus) which did not need to be repented of this one does. The second half of the verse posted behind Zacchaeus would apply here

2Cr 7:10 For godly sorrow worketh repentance to salvation not to be repented of: (in Zacchaeus)

but (as seen in the rich young rule) the sorrow of the world worketh death.

And he went away sorrowful: for he had great possessions.

1 John 2:15 Love not the world, neither the thingsthat are in the world.